End the nightmare of truckers stranded at the Franco-British border

The return to the country has begun for the last 1,600 of the 10,000 European and Turkish trucks, which spent their Christmas in the cabin, at an abandoned British airport or in the streets of Dover and its surroundings due to the closure of the border between France and Great Britain. Authorities informed drivers on Saturday that they could head to the port of Dover and wait to cross to France.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said at 9 am on Boxing Day – a post Christmas holiday for the British – “all carriers had left Manston Airfield”. The site had been used to deal with the massive traffic jam in Kent caused by President Emmanuel Macron’s ban on travel and trade in France amid the crisis of Brexit negotiations.

Since France abruptly closed the Franco-British border, officially for fear of the expansion of a Covid mutation which this Saturday has reached France, the British government has reported that 15,526 coronavirus tests have already been carried out on drivers . They gave 36 positive results, which “are being verified”. If confirmed, they can be accommodated in special UK hotels.

“Manston is now empty and the trucks shouldn’t go there any more, please,” the cabinet minister said in a tweet.

Shapps thanked “everyone who has worked tirelessly over the past few days to reduce the enormous disruption.”

Virus or Brexit?

The trucks were stuck since last sunday, many with goods which have rotted in the meantime and which insurance does not cover. They are waiting for financial compensation. Christmas in the cab of the truck, no clean clothes, no shower, no bath, no hot food, no family.

Dozens of local villagers came with fresh fruit, cereals, Christmas food, milk, bread, eggs, water, chocolate and hygiene products for the stranded truckers.

Travel from the UK to France gradually resumed Wednesday morning. France sent 10,000 rapid tests, as well as a team of 26 firefighters and border police, who took part in the operation. Britain has deployed military and logistics to stage unimaginable chaos in the middle of Christmas Eve.

“Police, military, planners, councils, charities, border staff all came together to bring food and drink to stranded carriers,” the transport secretary said.

Not a single UK government official went to Dover to show solidarity or explain the situation to stranded truckers. The German Ambassador was one of the few to visit the scene, looking for German truckers to help them. Other embassies have sent their consuls.

Chaos struck the roads of Kent last weekend, when a new variant of the coronavirus discovered in the south-east of England prompted France first and dozens of countries later to quickly shut down its borders with Great Britain. The British variant of the Covid has already spread to France, Spain, Italy, Germany and Sweden thanks to passengers arriving from the kingdom.

Freight trucks were still in line on Saturday on the southbound M20 motorway leading to the port of Dover in Mersham, in the south-east of England.

They established themselves frantic negotiations when the UK tried to convince its neighbor to unblock the particularly vital trade route in the week leading up to Christmas and as the end of the Brexit transition period approached.

Finally, it was the European Union that unblocked the situation, suggesting re-authorizing canceled flights, trains, ferries and reopening borders to allow truckers to return home.

British and Polish military operation

The situation worsened when more than 5000 trucks have been accumulated late. The number grew every day, reaching 10,000 stranded truckers. This raised fears of a possible food shortage in the kingdom, while the government urged people not to visit Kent’s ports. Supermarkets have established a supply chain via air freight from the EU as lettuce and fresh fruit began to fall short in the kingdom after a ‘shopping panic’.

Drivers must now submit a negative Covid-19 test to cross the Channel and start returning to their bases, across the EU and Turkey.

At least 800 British military personnel helped test and clean up the area as part of Operation Rose. The Polish army sent 60 soldiers, who came to Britain to help them. Between themselves and the British and French testers, they managed to expel and clear the way to the port.

Paris, correspondent

CB